SHOOTING
6.5 Creedmoor 140g ELD-X for Deer
Range
150 yd
325 yd
275 yd
8 in.
Assuming 8" kill zone
Max height 4" at 150 yards
Downrange zero at 275 yards
MPBR (4" below line of sight) at 325 yards
0
100 yd
150 yd
200 yd 250 yd 300 yd 350 yd 400 yd 450 yd 500 yd
.300 Win Mag 200g Accubond for Elk
175 yd
380 yd
320 yd
11 in.
Assuming 11" kill zone
Max height 5 ½" at 175 yards
Downrange zero at 320 yards
MPBR (5 ½" below line of sight) at 380 yards
0
100 yd
of the best concepts to un-
derstand is Maximum Point
Blank Range (MPBR). Let’s
face it. When that trophy
buck of a lifetime steps out of
the sage and you know he’s at
a reasonable range, it’s nice
knowing you don’t have to go
through a complicated pro-
cess to execute your shot. Be-
ing ready to shoot max point
blank range where you can
simply hold dead center on
any distance out to roughly
300 yards can be vital to mak-
ing a quick, accurate shot.
If you’re scratching your
head wondering what MPBR
46
WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL
150 yd
200 yd 250 yd 300 yd 350 yd 400 yd 450 yd 500 yd
is, don’t fret. You probably
are already using the ba-
sic concept to some degree
though you may not know it.
The concept is based on the
understanding that your in-
tended game animal has a
certain sized vital zone that
you must hit. That particular
size vital zone is used in con-
junction with the trajectory of
your bullet to determine the
maximum distance the hunt-
er can aim at the center of the
animal’s vital zone without
having to hold high or low to
compensate for bullet trajec-
tory and still hit within the
zone. That distance is the max
point blank range. Depending
on how close or far the shoot-
er is from the target, they may
hit high or low of dead center,
but as long as they’re inside
the MPBR, they will hit inside
the vital zone.
With today’s popular hunt-
ing cartridges the distance
you can shoot and ethically
kill an animal continues to
increase. It’s not unrealistic
to expect very good accuracy
out past 400 yards, which was
practically unheard of with
most hunters in my father and
grandfather’s generation. It’s
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
325
350
Velocity
2850
2812
2775
2738
2701
2665
2629
2593
2558
2522
2487
2453
2418
2384
2350
Range Velocity
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
325
350
375
400 2950
2909
2869
2829
2790
2751
2712
2674
2635
2598
2560
2523
2486
2450
2413
2378
2342
Trajectory
-1.5
0.1
1.5
2.6
3.4
3.8
4.0
3.9
3.4
2.6
1.5
0.0
-1.8
-4.0
-6.6
Trajectory
-1.5
0.3
1.9
3.1
4.1
4.9
5.3
5.5
5.3
4.8
4
2.9
1.4
-0.4
-2.6
-5.1
-8
my contention that anything
farther than 400 yards, one
really should be using a la-
ser range finder and either a
proven drop chart or a ballis-
tic solver to ensure an effec-
tive shot. What’s even more
attractive about MPBR, it can
simply be used in conjunction
with any reasonably accurate
rifle and scope combination
and really requires no special
tools or expensive new gad-
gets.
One way to simplify the
MPBR concept is to think
about it as shooting down a
long pipe or tunnel, with the